Daily in His Presence: A Classic Devotional from One of the Most Powerful Voices of the Nineteenth Century

Preface

Andrew Murray

Servant of God, Man of Revival

Bearing the name given to both his father and his grandfather, Andrew Murray was born in the small but attractive town of Graaff-Reinet in the Cape Province of South Africa on May 9, 1828. As the second son and second child of sixteen, he began his days in the pastoral home of the town’s strong and flourishing Dutch church. His father, along with several other Scottish divines, had earlier responded to a need created by the reluctance of clergymen from the Netherlands to come to the Cape after its occupation by the British in 1860.

Thus, six years before the advent of his more famous prodigy, Andrew Murray Sr., having first spent some ten months studying the Dutch language in Utrecht, left his home and the church he pastored in Aberdeen to take up his new assignment as the ordained minister of the Graaff-Reinet congregation. It was here that the young Andrew received not only a godly father’s reverence for the Scriptures, but also a profound respect for time spent in prayer, as imparted by his mother. This exceptional woman, born Maria Susanna Magdalena Stegmann, taught her children to read and to write and demonstrated to them the need and effect of prayer in the practicalities of daily life. Of Andrew’s father, a friend would later describe him as, a man with a warm heart and a courageous spirit, who loved hard work, and who had an unquenchable love for his Master and for the people whom he served.

The markedly spiritual tone of the Murray home may explain its choice as a refuge and stopover point for so many missionaries, including such well-known names as Moffat and Livingstone. The family’s involvement with missionaries may also account for the fact that almost all of the Murray sons entered one form or another of Christian ministry, and the majority of the daughters married men of the cloth. In addition, some nineteen grandchildren went on to become missionaries, as did a further thirty of the following generation!

Early Days in Scotland and the Netherlands

Aged only ten and twelve years old respectively, Andrew and his elder brother, John, were, after much prayer and deliberation by the Murray family, sent to further their education in Aberdeen, Scotland. A remarkable aptitude and devotion to study saw both brothers graduating with Master of Arts degrees some seven years later.

In June 1845, Andrew and John left for Utrecht in the Netherlands, with the intention of studying the Dutch language, as well as theology. It was in Utrecht that Andrew truly submitted his life to God. In a letter to his father, he wrote, I’ve been led to throw myself completely on Christ. From that day on a sharper, refined personal experience was destined to become part of all his future sermons. However, at the time, in what was a theological institution of predominantly liberal persuasion, Andrew was dismayed that he could not freely talk or write about his newfound experience and convictions.

In retrospect, however, the Murrays’ exposure to the liberal theology of their day actually had a positive influence on their lives, as well as on those to whom they would later teach and minister. The rather unaccommodating situation in which the brothers found themselves forced them, after serious examination, to commit themselves unequivocally to a passionate propagation of the gospel of their Lord and Master.

The two brothers were ordained as ministers by The Hague Commission on Andrew’s twentieth birthday in 1848. They returned to South Africa after a moving farewell from their own circle of student friends.

The First Years of Ministry

After eleven years abroad the brothers ascended their father’s pulpit on their very first Sunday in Bloemfontein. In the morning the elder brother, John, with his clear power of thought, preached the sermon. That evening it was the turn of the younger brother, Andrew, who, with his seriousness and passion, exceeded the expectations of the congregation.

On May 6, 1849, three days before his becoming of age, Murray was inducted in Bloemfontein by his father. His pastoral responsibilities extended to Winburg, Smithfield, and Fauresmith—virtually the entire area between the Vaal and Orange Rivers. In addition, from the very beginning he had his eye on the neglected situation of expatriate church members in the Transvaal.

Journeys were invariably difficult and dangerous. Many roads were mere tracks in the veld, left behind by other travelers or traders. Bridges were few and pontoons were used, but travelers most frequently had to search for fords where it was easier to cross the rivers. The vastness of his place of work and the poor amenities on the long journeys by horse or ox-wagon exhausted the eager young clergyman in the beginning of his ministry, making his years in Bloemfontein extremely demanding. Distances were great and danger from wild animals was a daily occurrence.

Thus he ministered to some twelve thousand souls across a territory of fifty thousand square miles. But across the Vaal River another seven thousand immigrants were moving about without a clergyman, and Murray could only visit them during his vacations. Four long and exhaustive journeys to the people in Transvaal seriously impaired Murray’s health. Still, from the very beginning he gave his all and was soon greatly respected and loved among the farming communities of the Transgariep.

Worcester and Revival

In 1856, eight years after arriving back in the land of his birth, Andrew Murray married a truly remarkable woman. Emma Rutherford came from a prominent and respected Cape family. She was educated and excelled in literature, music, painting, French, German, accountancy, and home craft—a background much of which was destined to lend support to the many books which Andrew later wrote. He immediately appointed her as a sounding board and critic of his sermons, as well as his secretary to cope with his correspondence, which was later to assume significant proportions. In addition, Emma played the organ and served as a Sunday school teacher. Furthermore, in consequence of his many travels, she was mainly responsible for the education of their eight children, with whom both she and Andrew shared a very close and special bond.

In 1860, four years into his marriage, Andrew Murray was called to Worcester, and although it was very difficult for him to break the bond with his Bloemfontein congregation, he accepted.

Murray’s induction into the church at Worcester coincided with the great spiritual revivals that were taking place at the time in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Sweden, and across the seas in America.

News of what God was doing soon reached South African shores, arousing among ministers and church members alike a longing for a similar outpouring of the Spirit of God. Several prayer meetings for revival commenced spontaneously. As a spirit of expectation began to take hold of the people, the attendance at church services and prayer meetings increased rapidly.

Over the eighteenth and nineteenth of April 1860, shortly before he assumed his duties as the minister of the Worcester congregation on Sunday, May 27, Murray attended and participated in an inter-church conference held in the town. It is generally agreed that it was this event that triggered the powerful revival that immediately followed, and moreover that it all began with a prayer that Murray delivered at that memorable gathering.

Almost immediately following the conference, revival broke out in the town of Montagu, some fifty miles southeast of Worcester, while in the congregation newly acquired by Murray, a mighty outpouring took place among the youth of the church, which then spread to the rest of the congregation, as well as to prayer meetings which were being held at the time among the outlying farms.

Approximately four months later, the revival spread to the town of Wellington, which housed the congregation that a little more than a decade later was to become the center of Murray’s ministry and achievements.

In the year following these events, revival fire spread to numerous other towns in the area, including Calvinia, Richmond, Graaff-Reinet, Murraysburg, and Beaufort-West, to name but a few, and thereafter beyond the Cape to towns such as Fauresmith and Kroonstad in the Orange Free State, Ladysmith in Natal, and Hartbeesfontein in the Transvaal.

These powerful revivals were accompanied by an intense outbreak of unremitting prayer from young and old, rich and poor, white and black. Thousands turned to God in remorse and repentance. Frequently, entire congregations would break into simultaneous vocal prayer, often accompanied by fervent public confession of sin.

The results in many cases were of a lasting nature, with churches having to greatly extend their seating facilities to accommodate the large numbers of people being added to the family of God. For many churches it was a veritable resurrection from the dead. Homes where previously only idle chatter was to be heard became houses of prayer. Long-standing and respected church members suddenly sought deliverance from enslaving and often secret habits. Superficial Christian living gave way to an earnest seeking after holiness and sanctification. Denominational church reports over the ensuing five or six years reflected significant congregational growth, a marked increase of interest and investment in missionary endeavors, and a general spirit of love and unity prevailing among the believers.

Wellington and Missions

In 1864, Murray accepted a call to Cape Town, where he was inducted on November 11, 1864. There he gave special attention to the plight of the less fortunate and young people, and in 1865 the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was founded under his guidance.

Although he ministered in Cape Town for almost eight years, Murray somehow seemed not to form close ties with the city, and on September 21, 1871, having accepted a call to Wellington, he was inducted into his fourth congregation, where he conducted his greatest work till his retirement in 1906. These years were the prime of Andrew’s life. His clear insight and comprehension, as well as his astonishing enterprise, helped him to tackle projects under which people with fewer talents would have succumbed.

Murray played a major role in the training of missionaries in the land of his birth, as well as in supporting personnel who were involved with missionary work. And it was in Wellington that Murray found his real calling and his missionary zeal found its fullest outlet. In October 1877 the Missionary Institute in Wellington was opened to train missionaries and teachers of religious education. Murray and his willing congregation shouldered the burden of this institution until it received synodical support in 1903.

Murray entertained high expectations from especially the sons and daughters of his own people to become missionaries and teachers. His intense missionary zeal, which inspired the Wellington congregation, directly or indirectly led to the founding of at least five missionary organizations and an enterprising missions publication.

Along with his missionary vision, education shared an important place in Murray’s heart and life, resulting in his leaving his congregation for months on end to proceed on fund-raising journeys, which provided him with an opportunity to visit former parishioners.

Andrew Murray as Author

One of the most prolific of Christian writers, Andrew Murray occupies a position that could perhaps be regarded as unique in terms of his ongoing popularity among contemporary readers. Few writers of his era can be said to enjoy the wide readership that Murray’s works still command today. Though written in the classical style of a bygone Victorian era, the timelessness of his message concerning a deeper life and commitment to Christ has continued to ensure the reprinting of scores of his writings.

Between 1880 and his death, not a year passed in which Murray did not publish a book. His most fruitful year was 1895, when no less than sixteen of his works were published. He is perhaps best known and loved for his numerous shorter works consisting of thirty-one or fifty-two chapters, which were originally intended to be read every day of the month or per week by his many far-flung farming parishioners, whose church attendance was severely limited due to the great distances they had to travel.

Andrew Murray the Preacher

As a young boy, Murray was greatly influenced by the famous Scottish preacher, W. C. Burns and, like Burns, the young Murray’s sermons became known for the employment of naked and plain language. As was the case with his early mentor, Murray’s preaching was devoid of poetry or sentiment and exhibited the same passionate seriousness and lively conveyance of faith.

His performance in the pulpit was magnetic, and his seriousness moved people. Being bilingual, Murray could preach in South Africa, the Netherlands, Britain, or the United States with the greatest of ease. Yet he never saw himself as an orator, only as a servant of the gospel.

In 1893, Murray sustained a permanent back injury in a horse cart accident in Natal. This changed his previously buoyant, upright figure to a more bent, nearly crippled appearance. He later resorted to sitting while preaching, a practice which did nothing to impede the seriousness of his message, which was frequently punctuated by a pounding of his Bible and the cushion upon which he sat.

Of that period of Murray’s ministry, a Presbyterian minister who saw him preaching at the Keswick Convention in 1895, witnessed, The sober, venerable reverend disappeared and an old Hebrew prophet stood in front of us.

H. V. Taylor wrote of Murray in The British Weekly of December 6, 1894:

When preaching or conducting a service, his whole being is thrown into the task, and he glows with a fervency of spirit which seems impossible for human flesh to sustain. At times he startles and overwhelms the listeners. Earnestness and power of the electric sort stream from him and affect alike the large audience or the quiet circle gathered round him. In his slight, spent frame of middle height, he carries in repose a volcanic energy which, when he is roused, bursts its barriers and sweeps all before it. Then his form quivers and dilates, the lips tremble, the features work, and the eyes spasmodically open and close, as from the white-hot furnace of his spirit he pours the molten torrent of his unstudied eloquence."

Murray’s own father once said to him, William is my beloved ‘John,’ but you, Andrew, are Boanerges, the son of thunder.

Murray the Missionary and Evangelist

The most active time of Murray’s extremely busy career in Wellington was from 1879 to 1891. During that time he undertook no less than seven evangelistic tours to all parts of South Africa, some of which lasted for weeks, others several months. Before and during his journeys he wrote down even the smallest planning details and continually strove to keep to his predetermined plans. Therefore, even the routes, distances, resting places, and the number and duration of meetings were recorded before he undertook the journeys. In addition, he particularly saw to it that very thorough spiritual and psychological preparation was done. It was his practice to send ahead packages of his latest books, in order to prepare the hearts of those to whom he would be ministering.

There can be little doubt that events overseas had an effect on much of Murray’s life and ministry. This is particularly true as regards the news that reached South Africa of how the American evangelists Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey’s revival services in Britain had set the whole world in uproar. Stirred by the reports of what God was doing overseas, Murray was keen to travel the country to bring the gospel to the countless numbers of its people who had yet to enter the kingdom of God.

In 1879, when about to undertake the first of seven large evangelistic tours, Murray wrote in De Kerkbode the reasons behind his undertaking, and mentioned the conditions that could lead to results. It was not some new gospel that he would be preaching, but simply the old, yet ever new message of great joy. At these special services, he said, a person could, by means of the continual repetition of the calling to repentance and faith, be led to a point where he will have to decide for himself what he will do. He made repeated mention of the need for good preparation and the cooperation of all the faithful.

The spiritual results of that series of services were both substantial and permanent. A typical congregation in the interior reported that the complaining, doubtful language of many was changed into the thankful language of the assurance of faith, and we walk the road to Zion with new courage.

Away from home, Andrew Murray was, and still is, internationally regarded as an esteemed and respected Christian leader of his time. In addition to his many activities and achievements in South Africa, he traveled extensively, visiting Europe five times. Several of his approximately two hundred and fifty English and Dutch publications have been translated into at least fifteen languages, including French, German, Spanish, modern Greek, Danish, Swedish, Japanese, and Russian, as well as three different Indian languages and several forms of Chinese.

His Final Days

The year 1905 was a dark year for Murray and his family. Mrs Murray died suddenly on January 2, 1905. Murray’s health also took a turn for the worse. On December 25 he applied to the church council to retire. It was granted and he was released from his duties on February 20, 1906. The minutes of the meeting that effected his retirement include the following:

We record that we cannot express in words what the Rev. Murray has meant for this congregation. His life and example in our midst for so many years was worthy of a servant of the gospel and a man of God. His preaching of the Word occurred with much blessing and power, and it can be eminently mentioned that it was Christ’s preaching … and it is with deep emotion that we testify of the severance of such a tender, sincere and important bond of so many years."

In August 1916, Andrew Murray contracted a cold that soon developed into pneumonia. And on January 18, 1917, the old prophet breathed his last. Two days later he was buried in front of the church he had so faithfully and lovingly served.

The town council of Wellington accepted the following motion at its meeting on February 6, 1917:

This Council on behalf of the whole community of Wellington wish to place on record their deep appreciation of the great services rendered by Dr. Andrew Murray, not only to the whole of South Africa, but specially to Wellington in what he did in the cause of Education, of which the Huguenot Seminary and Ladies’ College will ever remain as living monuments to his memory.

A long obituary in The Paarl Post of January 20 started as follows:

Father Andrew Murray is no more. Last Thursday, towards the evening, when the birds returned to their nests, his soul flew to the place of rest and peace. His career has ended and his work, for which God had placed him on earth, is accomplished.

The Secret of Adoration

Why are so many Christians reluctant to spend time in prayer? If, on the human level, spending time in the company of a parent is normally something quite natural and enjoyable for a child, what is it that hinders God’s children from doing the same with their heavenly Father?

One answer could be that we are too focused on our human limitations, on our own meekness and sinfulness, and not enough on God’s greatness, holiness, love, and omnipotence. The thoughts and feelings that fill our hearts and minds influence our prayers.

If we dwell upon our own needs and desires, our own efforts, and our own faith, we shall soon find that there is no real power in our prayers. It is essential that we see prayer in the light of God: the deep interest He takes in us, the great love with which He desires to answer prayer, the omnipotence of His power, and the magnitude of His strengthening grace.

As with all else, in prayer God must be first. Prayer, to be effective, needs to first be approached in the light of heaven and the infinite glory of the living God. It is when, by this marvelous grace, we have been lifted up into His fellowship and love that He bestows upon us the blessings we need. The first thing, then, must be to bow in lowly reverence before God, offering Him our adoration and worship.

We need to take time to adore God and to secure some sense of His presence. Give God time to reveal Himself to you. Then adore Him. God is in the temple: Let all who appear before Him do so in awe. Prostrate yourself before Him with deepest reverence. Own Him alone as your God and Savior, and praise His name forever.

True Worship

Worship God!

REVELATION 22:9

What might be the reason that prayer is not for us a greater joy and delight? How can we bring down the power and the blessing on those for whom we pray?

The primary answer is undoubtedly that our experience of the presence of God is too limited. When we pray, we do not seek after His presence with all our hearts. We think mostly of our need, our weakness, our desire, our prayer. We forget that in every prayer God must be first and foremost. To seek Him, to find Him, to linger in His presence, is the approach that gives prayer its inspiration.

How then can you acquire an intimate experience of the presence of God in your communion with Him? The answer is quite simple: Believe with your whole heart that He offers Himself as the listener. Give God the opportunity to make Himself known to you when you approach Him in prayer. You will never discover this, however, if you do not take time to have genuine fellowship with God. The power of prayer does not lie in the number or earnestness of the words you use, but in a living faith that God Himself accepts both you and your prayer into His loving heart.

Lord, lead me into a true experience of Your presence. Teach me to adore You with all my heart.

It is the goal of this month’s readings to help you to meet with God every time you pray. Each day you will be given one or more texts, with which you can bow before God in adoration, waiting for Him to lead you into a real experience of their truth and power. Therefore, begin the day with the desire, My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? (Psalm 42:2).

God Is Spirit

God is spirit, and his worshipers must

worship in spirit and in truth.

JOHN 4:24

When God created Adam and breathed his spirit into him, Adam became a living soul. When Adam disobeyed God, he became a slave of the body and the lusts of the flesh. Utter darkness pervaded his spirit and, thereafter, the spirit of the entire human race.

In the new birth it is the spirit of a person that is renewed. As that newborn life enters into fellowship with God, the spirit—which is our deepest inward part—is that which surrenders to the Spirit of God. As the psalmist says, You teach me wisdom in the inmost place (Psalm 51:6). And God Himself declares, I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33).

God is spirit, holy and glorious. He gave us a spirit with one objective: that we might have fellowship with Him. Sin, however, has darkened and all but extinguished this ability. There is no other way whereby it can be restored than by waiting upon the working of the Holy Spirit in stillness before God. He will work in your spirit, in your inner being, a level far deeper than that of your thoughts and emotions, as He teaches you to worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

Thank You, Lord, that in Your mercy You lovingly write on the tablets of my heart.

I wait on You, Lord, to complete the good that You have begun in me.

Jesus explained to the woman at the well in Samaria, The true worshipers … worship the Father in spirit and truth. They are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks (John 4:23–24). In your quiet hour, become still and give yourself completely to the working of the Spirit.

Intercession and

Adoration

Worship the LORD in

the splendor of his holiness.

PSALM 96:9

The better we know God, the more wonderful becomes our insight into the power of intercession. We begin to understand that it is the great means by which we can take part in the carrying out of God’s purpose.

God has entrusted the redemption in Christ to His people to make known and communicate to others. In all of this, intercession is the primary essential element, because it is the way in which we enter into dynamic fellowship with Christ and receive the power of the Spirit for service.

It is quite simple to see why God would have it so: He desires to renew us in His image. And there is no other way to do this than to make His desires and attitudes our own, so that we become more like Him who always lives to intercede (Hebrews 7:25).

Lord, I bow before You in adoration because You are my God. Lead me into a deeper adoration and more powerful intercession.

The more you come to understand the truth, the more you will sense your need to truly experience God’s presence in humble adoration. The more time you spend in God’s presence, making His thoughts and will your own, the stronger your faith will grow that God will use your prayers in the carrying out of His plan of redemption.

Intercession will lead you to a realization of your need to enter into deeper adoration. Adoration will give new power for intercession. These two matters are inseparable.

The Desire for God

My soul yearns for you in the night.

ISAIAH 26:9

What is the most worthwhile thing humankind can experience on earth? Nothing less than God Himself!

And what is the first and most important thing to be done each day? It is nothing less than to seek, to know, to love, and to praise God. As glorious as God is, so is the glory that begins to work in the hearts and lives of those who give themselves to live for God.

It is a great step forward in the life of a Christian when he or she truly sees this and regards their daily fellowship with God as the most important aspect of their existence.

Take time and ask yourself whether this is indeed not the most important thing around which your life should revolve—to know God and to love Him with your whole heart. This is what God desires above all else; and it is that which, in answer to your prayer, He will enable you to do.

Lord, my God, I confess that I know little of seeking You for Your own sake first. Make me to hunger and thirst after You, and help me to wait patiently for You.

So begin this and every day of the year with the impassioned prayer of David: O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you … in a dry and weary land (Psalm 63:1).

Repeat these words in reverence and childlike longing until their spirit and power enter your heart. Then wait upon God till you realize how great a blessing it is thus to meet with Him. As you persevere in this, you will learn to expect the presence of God to surround you throughout the day.

Quiet Adoration

My soul finds rest in God alone;

my salvation comes from him.

PSALM 62:1

Who would dispute the fact that when a human being in his or her insignificance meets with God in His glory, that which God has to say must have infinitely more worth than what that person has to say? And yet we so often fill our quiet times in the presence of God with our own thoughts and needs instead of giving Him time to speak to us. Moreover, our prayers are frequently indefinite and vague. We learn a great lesson when we come to understand that the deliberate quieting of our souls and minds before God is the secret of true adoration.

It is when we bow before God, recognizing His majesty and His holiness, His power and His love, and seek to give Him the honor and the reverence and the worship that are His due, that our hearts awaken to the nearness of God and the working of His power. It is when we bow low in our nothingness and lift up our thoughts to realize His presence as He gives Himself to us in Christ Jesus that we find the greatest possible blessing in prayer.

Lord, teach me to be quiet before You. My expectations are from You.

Do not for a moment think of the time as being lost. Persevere in your adoration, even if at first it seems difficult or fruitless. Be assured, it will lead to real fellowship with God. The assurance that He is listening to you in love and working in you with power will come.

As time goes by, you will become increasingly aware of His presence throughout the day. People will begin to sense that you have been with God. It will make you strong to witness for Him. Someone once said, No one can influence another for good, beyond the amount that there is of God in him.

The Light of God’s Presence

The LORD is my light.

PSALM 27:1

Each morning the sun rises and we walk in its light as we joyfully go about our daily work. The light of the sun shines on us all day, whether we are conscious of it or not. Each morning the light of God also shines upon His children.

When there is a shipwreck at night, the crew anxiously watches for the dawn. They sigh, When will the day break? This is also how the Christian must wait on God. As the psalmist says, My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning (Psalm 130:6). Wait, until you become aware that the light of His countenance and His blessing is resting on you.

It is the heartfelt wish of our Father in heaven that His children remain in His light throughout the day. As much as we need the light of the sun by day, we need the light of God every moment of our lives.

Lord, thank You for the light that comes from You. Help me to be the extension of that light to all those around me today.

Even when there are clouds, we still have the sun. So the light of God also shines upon His children even in difficult times. As surely as we know that the sun will rise, we can depend on the light of God. Ensure that you receive it in the morning—then you can count on it to remain with you all day long.

Allow yourself time to receive the light of God in your life and you will be able to join the psalmist in saying, The LORD is my light and my salvation (Psalm 27:1).

Faith in God

Have faith in God, Jesus answered.

MARK 11:22

As the eye is the organ by which we see the light of day, so faith is the power by which we see the light of God and walk in it.

Humankind was made for God. Our whole being was made in His likeness, formed according to the divine pattern. We are made to seek Him, to find Him, to become like Him, and so reflecting His glory, to be in the fullest sense the place where He lives. And faith is the eye that, turning away from the world and self, looks up to God and sees light.

How often do we try to arouse feelings about God which are actually just vague, shadowy impressions. We do not turn to the real God.

Lord, make me strong in faith. Empower me to contemplate the greatness of Your glory, power, and love.

If we but realized it, He reveals Himself in the depth of our being.

Without faith it is impossible to please or know God. During your quiet time, pray to your Father who dwells in the secret place. If you wait upon and adore Him, He will reveal Himself as surely as light cannot do otherwise than shine.

Your one desire must be to take time to be still before God, believing that He longs to make Himself known to you. In faith, allow yourself to think great thoughts concerning the magnitude of God’s glory, the power by which He reveals Himself to us, and the depths of the love with which He longs to possess us.

Practicing your faith in this manner will become a habit that enables you to always enjoy God’s presence and the experience of His saving power.

Alone with God

Jesus … withdrew again to a mountain.

JOHN 6:15

Humankind needs God. God made us for His own possession, to find our life and happiness in Him alone.

As sinful beings, we have been subject to the desires of the human nature and the world. We have been brought under the power of the visible and temporal. Our restoration in Christ is meant to bring us back into the Father’s presence, love, and fellowship. We have been saved to love and delight in the presence of God.

We need to be alone with God. Even Christ Himself, during His time on earth, needed this. He could not live the life of the Son of God here in an earthly form without at times isolating Himself to be alone with the Father. How much more you and I need it!

When Jesus instructed us to enter our inner sanctuary, to shut the door, and spend time alone with the Father, He also promised that God would hear our prayers and answer them.

Lord, teach me to put my priorities in order so that I take time to enter Your secret place. It is the one thing I need more than anything else.

Alone with God. That is the secret of true prayer—of a living, close intimacy with God, and of power for service. Without time spent alone with the Father, there can be no true, deep conversion, no growing devotedness to God, no powerful equipping from the Holy Spirit, and no continued peace or joy.

It is an inestimable privilege to begin each day in secret prayer. Let it be the one thing you set your heart upon: to seek, find, and meet with God.

Entirely Committed to God

Whom have I